An Immortal Wish
by Celty-san
Summary: Tifa enrolls into a new school, but what she and the human students don't know is that the school is secretly educating blood-thirsty vampires. And what's worse is that one of them - blonde, spiky-headed - "wants" her. NOTE: written in third-person p.o.v
1. Prologue

**A/N: I really hope that you all like this story and post reviews up (and not flame me.) Again, your feedback means a lot to me. **_**An Immortal Wish**_** has been brought to you by caiko7lovely (me), and here is my disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII. Oh, and by the way, the following changes have been made to this chapter/story:**

**1. The story is written in third person.**

**2. There are extra details within and at the end of the nightmare.**

**3. Several characters are introduced a bit early x)**

**I know there are a couple of trivial errors, but I'm too lazy to seek them out and fix them x) And I'm really sorry about the changes! These changes were added because I was experimenting. If a whole lot of you are confused or just flat out hate the changes, I'll undo it all, but some have to stay. If you're confused about anything at all regarding the story, just message me or add it to your review (if you do), and I'll answer. Promise! (x**

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_**An Immortal Wish**_

By: caiko7lovely

**I**

**PROLOGUE: [NIGHTMARE]**

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She always had nightmares.

Even if the day was enjoyable, at night, she would always have nightmares. To make it worse, each and every one of her nightmares were tormenting

They strike her silently with sinister rage and ensnare her mind in bone-chilling torture.

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_She couldn't bear to watch him suffer._

_It was too much. The black and purple bruises, the agonizing deep slits all over his body – she knew his limit, and he was well beyond it. He writhed in pain, shaking uncontrollably in his own pool of blood which murkily shone from the luminescent rays of the moon. He arched his back and dug his arms into the dirt, screaming stomach-churning screams that echoed endlessly through the innocent, young woman's mind, but the screams sounded like music to the bystanders around the two. Half of the many bystanders that surrounded the two watched the young man suffer while the other half watched the young woman to make sure she wouldn't escape. _

_The bystanders kept the two as hostages after finding them on the run from authorities and hunters that desired their downfall. The authorities didn't capture them, the hunters did – the bystanders – but tying them up and keeping them locked away in a cavern wasn't enough to make them joyous._

_They desired a public execution which quickly became a horrifying scene. Blood was everywhere, idle on the ground and partially on shoes. Hair-raising screams echoed throughout the sleepless night, rattling minds and compassionate hearts – the screams could be heard all the way in Midgar. As the echoing screams faded into the thin, cold air, as excruciating pain surged through the young man's entire body, the young woman – Tifa Lockhart – cringed sharply, the sound something gurgling filling her ears. The man coughed up his own blood, nearly collapsing immediately after, and his eyes slammed shut in pain. _

"_Please…" Tifa tried to say his name, but something forbade her from doing so. "Please…!" She couldn't even manage to let part of his name slip through her lips. "Please, don't…!" was all that came out of her maw._

_But to no avail._

_So she shrieked, "STOP! You can't do this!"_

_A girl stood next to the young man, slashing at his body with her bloody katana. She was the one who caused the torment, and she was completely emotionless about it – she didn't care about what had been happening or what she'd been doing. All she cared about was completing her task and carrying it out with an impressive display of force and grace. Torture and extermination – that was her job. It didn't matter who her target was. There wasn't the least bit of sympathy in her bones that she could give towards the people she had to face. The young man's blood splattered everywhere. The girl's face remained emotionless as specks of blood dotted all over her cheeks, making it seem like she was born with eerie, red freckles. The amount of ugliness bestowed on her from the splattering blood matched the level of how horrendous it was to watch an innocent, young man being tortured. Every second, he would huff and wheeze while the people around him watched in satisfaction, snickering and cheering as the girl continued to look impassive._

"_You can't do this!" Tifa called out to the young man, and the impassive girl's katana smoothly hacked away again._

_He gritted his teeth, trying to conceal the pending moans. "T-Ti… Tif… u-unh…"_

"_No…" She whispered, her heart trying to pound out of her chest. Unable to restrain her grief, she implored with watery eyes, "Please…! Keep talking to me…!"_

_He gasped into the pool of blood, coughing up hoarsely the crimson liquid that accidentally slipped down his throat. His head practically hung in repentance, blocking the sight of his perfect complexion – the hair that framed his cheeks covered the sides of his face, and the blood plastered on his complexion hid the rest, also masking his anguished expression and the tears which secretly rolled down his cheeks. Tifa tried to reach out to him, but the shackles around her wrists were heavier than the weight of a thousand burdens, barely allowing her arms to move. The only time they moved were when the shackles moved from Tifa's fidgeting in an attempt to escape from her restraints._

_She continued her attempts to escape, blocking out the weight of her shackles and the tightness of the rope around her. Her shoulders wriggled up and down, managing to lower the rope to her waist. Furiously, her feet spread apart, tearing the rope hugging her ankles with a strident rip. The sound tipped many of the nameless bystanders off, forcing them to take up arms. They took a couple of steps forward, towards the struggling Tifa. Determined to break free from the enemy's grip and want to let loose with her brute strength, she mustered up the strength to stretch the rope around her, and the sound of ripping could be heard once again. She planted herself onto her feet and backed into the tree behind her, into a branch. The rope continued to rip as she pushed her back into the tree, sliding to the left with the help of the sharp end of a branch she fortunately caught herself on._

_Everything went exceptionally well in her escape until she heard the young man rasp with what little energy he had left, "You'll get yourself killed! U-Ugh…!"_

"_Keep talking to me!" Tifa screamed out to him while leaning against the tree. She paused her escape and uncontrollably watched the young man struggle. More blood spurted from his mouth, and his vision blurred brutally. The glow of Mako transmitting from his eyes dulled suddenly, signaling the imminent end of his life. He had been cruelly afflicted before, both physically and mentally, so any further abuse to his body would result in a shut down of all of his senses._

_In other words, death was absolute._

_And Tifa knew that._

_She wanted him to hear her perfectly; she wanted to drive him. She wanted him to stop things if he could, for it tore her heart in two, reliving a sinister tragedy. Within the dark clouds hovering over everyone, lightning flashed bright and swiftly faded away. Thunder bellowed following the disappearance, shaking the ground in a moderate fashion. Rain droplets fell from the black, night sky, onto everyone's heads and shoulders and their surroundings. The rain barely washed away the blood on the young man's face though it seemed to do a reasonable amount on the impassive girl's. It also hid the falling tears of both the young man's and Tifa's. Maybe even the Impassive's. The impassive girl continued to look expressionless, but her eyes turned a rather pinkish color and moistened quite a bit, hinting a sign of sadness wanting to be expressed through tears._

_Tifa didn't think the impassive girl was sad. She thought she was heartless to begin with and repetitively wondered what she would be sad about. Tifa thought the impassive girl's heart had frozen and melted away, causing the emergence of her expressionless face and callous actions. Or maybe her heart was ripped out from her and had been locked away in a place unknown. Many speculations ran through Lockhart's mind, but none seemed to have been proven true. There was a chance that the girl was innocent to begin with._

"_Why are you doing this?" she asked, referring to both the young man and the impassive girl. "We… made a promise…" She took a step forward, the rope around her finally loosening completely and falling to the ground, but her knees buckled due to the weight of the shackles, and she was back to sitting on the ground. That didn't stop her from screaming again though, "Keep TALKING to me!"_

_The young man groaned once more, and he collapsed into the pool of blood. Part of his hair was dyed in crimson, making his form look even more ragged and torn up. He rested on his front, his head lying on its side on the jagged ground, and the Mako glow in his eyes dulled even more. The impassive girl came up from behind him and continued to cleave at his body, craving for his death. It was smite after smite from the girl, but the young man's will was so strong, he managed to keep himself alive to the point of which he ended up bathing in his own blood. Tifa watched the young man's weakening unfold, bit by bit. Her stomach began to knot up, and something had started rising up her throat._

**Stop.**

"_T-Tifa… I…"_

**Please.**

"_L-Lo… unh…!"_

**Please!**

"_I love…"_

**NO!**

_She wished for an ending,_

_so she chose salvation_

_though choosing salvation was the price to see his life end._

_Choosing salvation was her sin._

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Tifa writhed in bed, twisting and turning, ruffling the bed sheets under her, entangling the blanket that covered her body. Soft but painful moans escaped from her lips, into the pillow she rested her head on. Her fingers tunneled into the sheets, nails making indents within the coiled-spring mattress. Her head swayed left and right vigorously, and her legs kicked the blanket off her body. Her nightmare was dreadful, and she suffered by helplessly watching the nameless young man though she didn't suffer the exact same way in reality.

From the other side of the building, a young man with spiky, blond locks and sky-blue eyes leaned against the wall shirtless, peering out the window beside him with his arms crossed and a foot pressed against the wall. His eyes gawked at the intricate design of the cement-tile ground outside of the room he was in, trailing in every direction, trying to follow the numerous paths of the design. He seemed to be at peace, but his mind was mired in heavy thoughts.

His thoughts focused on one person and one person only. He cared deeply for them even though she didn't know him.

"Her suffering will dim down," someone beside him spoke. The young man looked in front of him, into the same blue eyes of his friend. His friend, Zack, sat up from his bed and ruffled his hair, pulling an arm across his chest and another to help stretch the aching muscles in that limb. He twisted himself to stretch and crack his back, and he continued to speak, "Though when she falls asleep again, her suffering will repeat itself."

The young man pursed his lips and kept silent.

"A new year of school's gonna start," Zack stood and bent his knees repeatedly to do squats, a motion that became a common mannerism to see from him. "She'll be in your classes too – you'll be able to talk to her. You gonna tell her about her nightmares? I mean, c'mon Cloud, don't make her suffer anymore. She has to know the truth-"

"I can't tell her," the young man interjected. Turning his head away from Zack, he murmured, repeating his own words, "I can't tell her."

"Well, why not?" Zack stopped squatting and looked at his friend reverently but with a slightly perplexed face.

Cloud kept silent again – the sound of his breathing was the only thing Zack got from him.

"I'm sensing some issues here. Don't you think you ought'a do something about 'em?"

"…She'll get mad."

"So? Comfort her later. Hug her or something."

"She doesn't even know me – she'll kill me."

"Well, as of now, you've got a real head-scratcher on your hands that I can't help you deal with. What're you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna wait," Cloud spoke softly, and he slipped his arms into a shirt, closing his eyes, the mysterious glow disappearing for only a moment. "The time's not right, so I'm gonna wait. Even if she suffers through the wait, she'll probably suffer more if I told her. It's… the best thing to do."

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**A/N: Euhh… is it me or did you guys kind of got a yaoi-feeling when Zack and Cloud started speaking? Just so you know, that feeling was NOT intentional! Still, please review(:**


	2. I: A New Dawn

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII.**

**A/N: Here are the following changes to the chapters/story:**

**1. The story is written in third person.**

**2. There are EXTRA details.**

**3. Tifa isn't writing in a journal anymore. I mean, she has a PHS; why not simply call him? Xd**

**4. New "events" have taken place.**

**I know there are a couple of trivial errors, but I'm too lazy to seek them out and fix them x) And I'm really sorry about the changes! These changes were added because I was experimenting. If a whole lot of you are confused, I'll undo the changes, but some have to stay. If you're confused about anything at all regarding the story, just message me or add it to your review (if you do), and I'll answer. Promise! x)**

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_**An Immortal Wish  
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By: caiko7lovely

**II**

**[A New Dawn]**

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"NO!" Tifa screamed almost at the top of her lungs, shooting up, alert but distraught from her slumber. Her hair fell in front of her face, and she sat, gasping for air. Her whole body shook terribly in rhythm with her hammering heart. It was as if she saw a ghost holding a knife in its hand, ready to lunge and kill her on the spot. A door opened abruptly, slamming into the wall, the gold-painted doorknob chiming loudly on impact. Tifa lashed her head at the bathroom and found that the door was wide open with thin steam flowing out steadily. A blurry figure rushed out of the steam, stumbling over their feet and a sudden yelp slipped from their lips. "What happened?" - it was Yuffie. "Are you hurt?"

The young, terrified maiden stayed hushed in dire need to catch her breath. With one hand on her chest, she fixed her hair with the other, running her fingers through hidden knots and brushing locks away from her face with her fingertips. Bothered by the blinding light of the illuminated room, she shook her head, groaning in discomfort and covered her face with both hands. For a moment, when she closed her eyes, she came across an image of herself still tied up, sitting on the wet jagged ground. Judging by the look on her face and the tears leaking from her eyes, she knew her nightmare copy was still trying to bear the sin of choosing salvation. Another image came to her – it was the same bloody man from her nightmare, but his body lay sprawled on the serrated dirt, practically lifeless. The rain pounded against his back tirelessly, seeping into his wounds and burning his insides yet he didn't mind one bit. He was almost like a lost corpse.

She blinked a couple of times and everything faded into pure white. The walls took shape and were painted white. Then the color steadily melted from the walls, divulging the true colors of the scene, bringing forth reality.

_Thank you, Odin, _she thought, wrapping her fingers around her forehead. _It's over now._

Sure, her nightmare was over, but she knew that in the future, she'd always have those bad dreams. She knew for a fact that her reoccurring bad dreams would never cease.

It was almost like a curse.

Her nightmares were always there for her whenever she slept. After she'd wake up, every day, she silently suffered because of the treacherous dreams. Day by day, night by night, she suffered, and not one person had even noticed – not even her own father who was almost always right beside her in her life, and not even her own best friend noticed either. She kept completely silent about it to everyone, but it was mainly because she didn't want to cause any anguish – others didn't have to suffer alongside her.

It wasn't right.

"Hey, you okay, Tifa?" Her best friend Yuffie asked, her short black hair dripping shower-water onto the carpet. Tifa didn't actually hear anything from Yuffie. She saw her lips move but didn't hear any sound escape. Her mind was caught in the currents of the void as she returned from the dark pool of her nightmare's remnants. Yuffie's lips paused for an instant and started moving again, and finally, her voice reached Tifa's ears, "Hey! I'm asking you a question!" Yuffie was very much annoyed though it was to be expected – she profoundly hated always finding Tifa staring off into space, and that was exactly what she was doing at the moment. "Tifa! You back on our Planet yet?"

Tifa took a deep breath and exhaled slowly and smiled a miniscule smile. "Sorry about that. I'm perfectly fine. Don't worry."

The corners of Yuffie's mouth rose and stretched, creating a smile much larger and more real than Tifa's. She placed her hands on her hips and laughed jovially, "Good!"

Yuffie's mirthful attitude calmed Tifa's heart down a bit and pulled her mind away from the nightmare's remnants. Actually, her attitude did more than that – it ALWAYS made Tifa happy which was good. Even if it was for a miniscule amount of time, by being happy, she could forget about her nightmares. Yuffie, mischievous but light-hearted and always a happy camper – Tifa never got tired of her cheerful nature. Yuffie's cheerfulness was the very thing that helped Tifa forget about her nightmares, and she didn't even know it.

She was a good friend.

"I see you're up early – again," Tifa yawned, falling back into her pillow.

"Well, what can I say?" the sunny girl chuckled, "I'm a morning person."

"I know, I can tell."

"And besides," Yuffie paused for a moment, returning into the steam. Her voice echoed from the bathroom, "We have a big day ahead of us, remember?"

"Oh!" Tifa shot back up. "That's right!"

Hurriedly, she swept off the bed, onto her feet but stood still as soon as her feet connected with the floor. She got up too fast and became lightheaded and dizzy but only for a mere moment. She covered her face again, her fingers hovering over her eyes, enduring the eccentric but dull pain that seeped through her skull. At first, it was a sharp twinge that had approached from the sides of her forehead. She winced at the sudden sting, but the pain eased rather quickly after a couple of seconds ran by. The next thing she knew was the unconventional, dull pain. Massaging her temples, she stood up again, slowly this time, and walked over to the closet located next to the bathroom to search for the day's clothes. Then the pain skittered away like a frightened cactuar, smoothly and speedily.

_A big day ahead of us, _Tifa told herself. _It'll be a big day, but it's going to be a dreadful night._

Tifa and Yuffie had been longing for this day to come – the start of their sophomore year. Transported by ShinRa's latest locomotive, the two friends along with a lot of other fresh new faces were going to attend a private school called Gaia Academy located deep within Midgar, Sector 7. It was unknown to Tifa Yuffie's reason of wanting to attend the academy, but the reason Tifa wanted to attend was so she could be at a better place to spend most of my time in. Her original school was a public school, eminently poor. It was cramped, and the students and staff couldn't afford going on field trips which was of no joy at all. In fact, they couldn't even afford heating! The air was bitter cold every winter, and everyone would shake and shiver throughout the school day. Their shivering rattled the desks and their feet constantly struck the floor, making it hard to concentrate especially on test days. It hard to last in a poor place like that, so Tifa stopped attending the school and was home-schooled by her father the rest of the year and the year following. Home-school became an amazing alternative, better than having to linger in a deprived, tattered building though it wasn't all it's cracked up to be.

After spending nearly two years of being home-schooled, the young maiden couldn't last another minute with her father, having to spend almost all of her time with him. She barely saw her friends because of the work he basically hammered down into her hands, and she was sick and tired of speaking to her dad for everything – questions, answers, all that. Five days after her uncooperative attitude had reached its boiling point, she stood up to her father. Her hands were clenched into fists with her head slightly bowed. She took a deep breath and uneasily admitted to him her feelings, and after waiting a few seconds which felt like hours to her, her father smiled and agreed to stop home-schooling her, quickly understanding and coping with her feelings.

They both knew she couldn't live without being fully educated. She still had to go to school. Home-school wasn't an option and going back to her old school was off-limits. The only thing they could think of was attending a private school in Midgar – Gaia Academy.

Gaia Academy was a rather prominent school, high-class and willing to accept any student with a functional brain. Also, it wasn't that expensive to get in… if the student manages to pass one of the school's special written and oral tests. Tifa and her father called the academy to see if any arrangements could be made to lower the price, but the only option given to them was to pay a quarter of what is expected and reveal to a board of directors how smart she was. They agreed to have the directors test her also arranging a time for it. Then, after enduring countless hours of written and oral examination, the school decided to take her under their wing.

Only a handful of students that were in the same situation Tifa was in were chosen to attend Gaia Academy, and one of them was optimistic Yuffie Kisaragi. At first, they barely knew each other, but after a couple of days of living in a hotel to wait for the train that led to the academy, they got to know each other better – a little. The first day, the two hardly talked. The second day, things were getting a tad bit better – they managed to get lost in the hotel and ended up needing to rely on each other. They harshly refused to ask around for directions, thinking the people would believe they were utter morons! "Humph, lost in a twenty-one floor hotel now, are we? Kids these days… when will they learn?" Tifa swore she heard someone say that behind her back. But instead of growing a grudge like a tonberry, she shook it off and continued on positively in life. That led to the third day which was the day she and Yuffie were finally able to get along perfectly.

There were no lies, no back-stabbing – they got along almost perfectly. Ever since they met each other, they were content.

It's been such a long time since Tifa felt that way.

The closet Tifa stood in front of was large, and its doors were made of mahogany. The doorknobs, just like the bathroom doorknobs, were painted gold and polished evenly, giving a glossy finish and a brilliant shine to whoever approached it. All the doorknobs within the building were like that with the exception of the knobs of the building entrances. The entrances had casual "D" shaped handles that were painted a dark, chocolate brown color to match the dye of the doors which were a dark brown as well.

The rays of the sun shone through the curtains covering the large window with ease, effortlessly illuminating the room. The day was a snowy one even though it was still September, still barely into Autumn's term. The ShinRa company was responsible for the bizarre weather – an "eco-experiment" said to make the smog within Midgar's sky blow away went awry and caused temporary weather changes instead. All of Midgar could expect a light blizzard in the Fall and hail in Winter. If the weather changes didn't leave by the end of Winter, blistering heat in Spring and rain during Summer was to be expected as well.

"ShinRa, Inc. is full of nutty people," Tifa grumbled while rummaging around the closet.

"I'm with ya there!" Yuffie added, and the hairdryer switched on.

While listening to the hairdryer roar, Tifa pulled out a school uniform from the depths of the closet and threw it onto her bed. She repeatedly pressed and spread her fingers onto the uniform's jacket, ridding it of wrinkles. She and Yuffie had settled in their dorm room just yesterday and had little time to really organize the place. The closet floor was a muddle, and the clothes which hung from a wooden rack weren't put away neatly. Wrinkles formed on the backs and sides of clothes and the wooden hangers that suspended them were left in a tangled mess. If someone wanted to get a pair of pants from the closet, they could've ended up getting a fleece jacket instead – that's how tangled the hangers were.

As soon as Yuffie gathered her belongings and stepped out of the bathroom, Tifa grabbed her clothes and a towel and hung them on a rack. Her hand gripped onto the shower knob and twisted it to "Warm," waiting for a minute, so the water could warm up. When she stripped herself down, she stepped into the tub, one leg at a time though her entire body jerked, and she gasped stridently when cold water touched her skin. She moved away from the plummeting droplets of water and waited for actual warm water to flow out. Hands knocked against the mahogany door suddenly, the sound bouncing off the walls of the spacious bathroom. Tifa's brows arched down in frustration, and she barked angrily, "What is it?"

"I just wanna apologize for not leaving enough hot water!" Yuffie smiled guiltily from the other side of the door. She rubbed the back of her neck and giggled nonchalantly, hoping Tifa would forgive her and not dully lecture her like she usually did whenever Yuffie did something impish.

"Sorry I yelled…" Tifa said quietly to herself and the cold water that filtered from the shower head became warm.

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Heavy leather boots creaked as they connected to the concrete; short silver hair that curved upwards at the back stayed unnaturally still with every loose step. A mocking smirk crooked but it quickly sank into a sad grimace.

A childish expression.

"Oh…" the bulky man whimpered, and he reached into his pocket, eyes watering. "Where is she? I can't find her!" he whined into his PHS, to the person on the other line. "I've been wandering this dumb city for hours, and I still can't find her!"

"Stop crying," the man on the other line barked. Crumbling dirt and rolling rocks filled the bulky man's ears. The man on the other line was in a rural place, strolling around in an arid, dreary canyon – Cosmo Canyon presumably.

The bulky man's leather-clad hands silently wiped falling tears away. "I'm not crying!" He ground his teeth, concealing the small whimpers that usually leaked from his mouth whenever he wept. A lie was a lie until proven otherwise – he considered himself safe of being caught in the lie, his aggression and silenced sniffling persuading his accusers. One foot strode in front of the other, his eyes flicking back and forth at buildings and people, impatiently searching for his target. But what was the point in searching when he honestly didn't know who he was searching for? "Um… who is she again?" he asked uneasily, the corners of his grimace sinking closer to his chin.

The man on the other line heaved a substantial sigh. "The only information Mother has given us included the target being female and quite prominent among other vampires. She has settled in a school called Gaia Academy, a building located somewhere in Midgar, but it remains a location we have yet to find."

"Ohh. Okay." The bulky man rubbed his neck, still slightly confused but kept his befuddlement a secret.

"Kadaj is acquiring information himself. Should he discover more, he said he'd call us and tell us what he found. I ought to do the same. Focus on searching for the target. Leave the researching to Kadaj and I."

After a short moment of silence, the line went silent, and the PHS clicked shut, tucked securely into a pocket.

"Oh, I'll find her," the bulky man said wryly and with a wicked smile. "I'm gonna make Mother very proud."

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Her body became smooth and fresh, the scent of vanilla trailing from her hair and skin – she was completely clean.

Once dry and clean, Tifa slipped into a Gaia Academy uniform. The school uniform consisted of a dark brown and yellow jacket covering a plain white long-sleeved shirt, a matching russet-colored plaid skirt, black knee-high socks, dark brown shoes and a red bow with the ShinRa insignia on a square plate at the bow's knot. For guys, the alterations were a matching pair of beige pants and a red tie with the same ShinRa insignia at the knot. Both genders had to wear a colored cloth around their left arms – red, orange, yellow or blue – to symbolize their status at the academy. Red represented freshman, orange represented sophomore, yellow for junior and blue for senior.

Contrasting to Tifa, Yuffie didn't exactly wear her uniform like students were supposed to. She added some slight alterations to her uniform: black fingerless gloves and some sort of headband that she tied around her neck instead, behind her bow. It must've been a memento from Wutai, her home, since she was going to be away from the place for quite some time; a memento that could tell her that she's not entirely away from her dwelling.

Tifa had nothing like that. She had a PHS that she could use to keep in touch with Nibelheim but nothing like a special headband. Almost everyone had a PHS, so it wasn't special. She sat on her bed and brought her school bag to her lap. She stared down into its emptiness, her homesickness finally kicking in. Yuffie caught her distraught expression. She snapped her fingers in front of Tifa's eyes and her head flicked up to the retreating fingers in front of her, her school bag falling to her feet.

"You sure you're okay?" Yuffie sat beside Tifa, leaning forward to get a better look at the bothered girl's face.

"Yeah… yeah, I'm…" Her voice cracked, and she swallowed a lump in her throat. "I'm just a little…"

"Hmmmm… oh, I know! You're homesick! I can tell from the look you have in your eyes. Well, you know what? Don't be! I'm sure you'll be able to visit Nibelheim during Winter break. It won't be long 'til that day!"

Tifa kept quiet, still solemnly thinking about the sleepy Nibelheim.

But it was all a blur to her.

Her thoughts and memories from Nibelheim were scarce. Each memory that ran by only incorporated her as a child. She tried to fast-forward into the future, but no memories of when she was a teenager made it into her mind. After remembering her eighth birthday, she couldn't recall any other memories that followed – after her eighth birthday, when she reached out for further memories, all she got was a blank canvas.

An utterly but mysteriously blank canvas.

"Why can't I remember…?" she whispered to herself. Losing a chunk of her past from the recesses of her brain was a definite first for her.

Yuffie caught a glimpse of Tifa, unduly curious, but she managed to set her curiosity aside. "Cheer up already, will ya?" She blurted, twirling around on the balls of her feet with her arms spanned for balance. "You've been uptight ever since you woke up! I know it's the first day of school and all, so I get where some of your bothers are coming from. But if you're like this the entire day, you'll epically fail! If you fail school, you'll fail in life! If you fail in life, you'll-!" She lost her balance and halted herself, resting on her heels. Then she kept blathering on, "Well, honestly, I don't exactly know what'll happen if you fail in life, but the point is cheer up. Got it?"

Letting out a small chuckle, Tifa nodded contentedly, and the two of them began filling their empty school bags with the day's necessities. They scrambled to their feet to get at their bags and supplies, hands snatching textbooks and prepared binders and stuffed them into their bags – all done in an irritated way. They absolutely hated packing, Tifa especially. She'd always forget something or a couple of things. Crouching low near the nightstand, she reached under her bed and yanked at something heavy. She pulled out a bin of school supplies from under her bed, into the light. Her fingers glided around the lid, searching for the locks that kept it in place. The lid popped off and she raided the bin, seizing whatever she thought was needed for the day, packing them into her bag. Fortunately for Yuffie, she actually knew what was needed. Resting in her hands was a checklist of all the school essentials. Her eyes flickered up and down, scanning through her list and bag thoroughly, mumbling to herself, "Pencils: check. Pens: check. Paper: check. Textbooks: check. Highlighters…?"

She stopped for a moment.

"Aw, crap, hey, Tifa, can I borrow some of your stuff?"

While trying to button up her bag, Tifa replied haphazardly, "That depends… what stuff?"

"School stuff," Yuffie answered straightforwardly.

"Sure, knock yourself out."

Another smile shaped onto Yuffie's face, and she scuttled to the bin, hands immediately rummaging through its contents noisily as soon as they could. The list of supplies sat motionless on Tifa's bed. Tifa glanced at it a bit, trying to remember what was on the list and what was inside her bulky bag – a fat binder inhabited the recesses of her school bag as well as textbooks and writing utensils though she completely forgot about packing the journals she'd need to write in. Along with Yuffie's, Tifa's hands plowed through the bin, searching for three journals; it didn't matter what color or design the cover had. Provided that they weren't in tattered condition, she'd take them. A spiral bind touched her fingertips, and she tugged at it without a second thought. Her hands enclosed around the bind, confident that she was going to pull out the journal she needed, but a stinging sensation briskly surged through her palm. She took her hand back, releasing her grip on the spiral bind. Her hand throbbed as she caressed it with the other. When she turned her hands over to study her palm, blood dripped onto her lap.

Staring at her injured hand, she muttered, "What hap- ngh!"

Terrifying images interrupted her thought – images of what happened in her nightmare filled her mentality once her eyes found her own spilled blood. The tortured, young man and the impassive girl flashed before her eyes, and blood flooded everything thereafter. She clamped her eyes shut and rocked her head side to side, trying to erase the images. When things faded into a bright white again, she opened her eyes.

"Are you sure you have highlighters?" Yuffie asked, unaware of Tifa's affliction. "I've been digging through this thing for a while now, and I still can't find any."

"Um… maybe they're just buried." Tifa darted into the bathroom to clean her wound and cover it with a bandage.

Noticing a speck of blood on the carpet, Yuffie looked Tifa's way and stood alarmed. "Hey! Are you bleed-?"

Without letting her finish, Tifa replied with a pained expression, "I'm fine, I'm fine. Don't worry. I appreciate your concern, but you don't have to worry about me all the time. Besides, it's just a little scratch."

"A little?" The cheery girl ran her eyes over Tifa's wound. It was a wide cut, red from the blood oozing from it, but it wasn't deep. It stretched from the flap of skin between her index finger and thumb to the start of her wrist. "You call that little? How'd you even get that anyway?"

"I guess something cut me while I was digging through the bin." Gauze rolled around her hand, for a regular bandage was too small to cover up the wound. "I'm fine, all right? No need to get all frantic."

"Well, what emotion do you expect me to feel when I see spilled blood?" Yuffie placed her hands on her hips again and pouted like a little kid.

Then a high-pitched noise echoed.

It chimed twice, quickly but stridently.

Yuffie's eyes swung to the side, at her own bed. It was there that the chimes sounded, vibrating against one of the wrinkled pillows. She examined the lighted screen, reading the small text that flashed – the reason of its sudden outburst. The words "Sector Eight alert! Unstable monster detected!" flashed in and out of the screen hastily and in bold red letters. "Sector Eight alert! Unstable monster detected!"

_Click._

The PHS stilled and silenced, and quiet spread about the room.

Staring tensely at the darkened screen, she bit her lip, her canine tooth poking her bottom lip. _The other guys will handle it, _she told herself. _If I leave now, I'll start an uproar between me, Tifa and the rest of the school. The other guys will handle it. The other guys will handle it! …Right?_ Nervously, she tapped her fingers against her side, her anxiety-filled heart striking furiously against her chest.

"Text message?" Tifa breathed.

"Uh, yeah." Not exactly. "Listen, I'm worried because blood is a weird trigger." Her arms crossed over her chest and she paced around in a circle, speaking softly to herself, "You never know what the sight or smell of blood can cause to happen especially in a place like this."

Suddenly, she froze up, holding her breath.

Tifa looked at her friend with heavy perplexity. "What are you talking about?"

"Um…!" Yuffie whipped her head towards Tifa and gasped as if her childhood secret was revealed. "N-Never mind!"

_Damn it!_

"What?"

_Me and my big mouth!_

"Uh, blood's a nuisance – that's all. It causes people to worry, and that's not good for the heart! Worry can cause heart-attacks, y'know!" She giggled coyly.

Tifa couldn't help but look at her with a bemused expression, confounded by her peculiar words. Tifa never heard anyone speak of blood like that. The only blood-related things she ever head about were 1.) she could die if she didn't have enough of it, 2.) it resided within her body, and 3.) it was red. She never heard anything about what could happen if someone caught sight of it or… smelled it. She thought for a moment about what COULD happen, the imaginary sound of several obnoxious ambulances filling her ears. To Tifa, if someone were to see or smell blood, an ambulance had the potential to arrive to take a bleeding person away. She pressed the joint of her index finger against her lips, thinking about minor blood loss, but Yuffie's snarling stomach interrupted her.

"Uh-oh…" Yuffie looked down at her empty tummy and rested her arms over it. She looked over her head, at an analog clock which had roman numerals instead of regular numbers printed along the side. It was half past 7 a.m., and already, her stomach was rioting for food.

Slinging her bag over her shoulder, Tifa chortled, "Your stomach sounds impatient. Wanna get breakfast?"

In response, Yuffie's mouth widened into a large, glorious, opened-mouth smile, and she jumped with her arms hung in the air. Laughing merrily, she joked, "Why didn't you ask that a long time ago?"

* * *

The two strolled through the halls of the academy, trying to get a better feel of the place. They didn't want to end up as the same two lost puppies they were back at the hotel. They needed to be able to find their way through the school especially if they ended up being the victims of self-centered, ignorant bullies. Running into them while trying to avoid them would've later resulted in a beating or some sort of rebuke.

Breakfast was another priority. If they had no idea where the cafeteria was, their stomachs would've endlessly growled and interfered with their education. Their empty stomachs could make them high-school drop-outs, and they were sure as hell that they didn't want to live their life in purgatory.

Eager to stuff themselves with food, they glided down the stairs, towards the cafeteria. The closer to the cafeteria they became, the smell of fresh pancakes and toasty waffles became stronger. The scent seeped in through their noses, further enticing their stomachs to the point of causing them some minor pain. Yuffie kept her arms on her stomach, striving to ease the pain even though her efforts didn't do anything. Tifa simply ignored it and pressed on, biting her lip whenever she actually felt the pain.

"My stomach huuuurts!" Yuffie griped, bending forward. "Can we hurry it up? I need fooood!"

"If you're that hungry, go on without me," Tifa said with a composed voice. "The cafeteria isn't that much farther."

"But I-I'll be the black sheep!" Yuffie began to babble again.

"What do you mean this time?"

"I'll be standing there without any sort of clue as to who the people standing around me are. Everyone will be happy, having someone to talk to while I, on the other hand-" A wave of pain silenced her.

"If you want that stomach of your to calm down, you should go on without me. I'll meet up with you soon."

"Nuh-uh!" Yuffie stood up straight and took her arms away from her stomach, acting unharmed.

Shrugging her shoulders, Tifa let out a quiet groan and walked faster, giving in to her antagonized belly a tiny bit. Yuffie had to rush down the stairs to catch up with her.

Simultaneously walking on the same steps as Tifa, Yuffie sighed with her hands cupped behind her head. "Their food better be good because otherwise, I'm leaving this place for another school."

"Oh, c,mon, is that really a good reason to leave?" Tifa kidded, elbowing her friend lightly in the side.

"Well, I'm not gonna travel two miles to the nearest restaurant!"

"We're in Midgar, Sector Eight. Restaurants aren't two miles away."

"Two miles, two blocks – who cares? It makes no difference! I'm not walking that far."

Tifa rolled her eyes and sped up again. The delicious smell trailing from the cafeteria made her mouth water. Heck, she was practically drooling, eager to eat. She was so eager, she practically jogged down the stairs to the cafeteria, almost leaving Yuffie on her own.

But something stopped her.

Stopping on the twenty-eighth step, she held her breath. A blond-headed young man about the same age as her walked by, their skin brushing against each other for a split second. His skin was ice cold, bringing up goose bumps in Tifa's arms. Her eyes slinked up to his sky-blue ones that had a tint of green around the pupils and were coated with a mysterious glow. His eyes were beautiful, an addictive thing to look at. Tifa didn't have time to take in the beauty of his eyes. She could only gaze at them for a brief moment, for it was during that brief moment that he had walked past her. Her heart skipped a few beats, finding that his eyes weren't the only beautiful thing – his face was beautiful as well, being the face of the perfect guy.

Her cheeks turned a faint pink, heat concentrating below her cheek bones – something within her had already began to yearn for him, and she didn't mind one bit.

_Perfect, _Tifa's mind sighed in ecstasy, _just like my dream guy-_

That ecstasy didn't last long.

When the words "dream guy" slipped into her mind, another image of the bloody, tortured man flashed before her eyes, and she saw the resemblance – the young man that walked by looked exactly like the tortured man, the man whom she apparently loved in her atrocious nightmares.


	3. II: Skyblue Solidarity

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII.**

**A/N: Here are the following changes to the chapters/story:**

**1. The story is written in third person.**

**2. There are EXTRA details. So PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEEEEAASE read all of it cuz you could get lost.**

**3. Tifa isn't writing in a journal anymore. I mean, she has a PHS; why not simply call him? xD**

**4. New "events" have taken place.**

**I know there are a couple of trivial errors, but I'm too lazy to seek them out and fix them x) And I'm really sorry about the changes! These changes were added because I was experimenting. If a whole lot of you are confused or just flat out hate the changes, I'll undo it all, but some have to stay. If you're confused about anything at all regarding the story, just message me or add it to your review (if you do), and I'll answer. Promise! (x**

…**Whoo! 9,662 words! Longest chapter I've ever written for ANY of my stories (x**

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* * *

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_**An Immortal Wish**_

By: caiko7lovely

**III**

**[Sky-blue Solidarity]**

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* * *

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He stopped two steps behind her with a hand resting on the railing.

He looked over his shoulder, and their eyes met, his sky-blue eyes gazing into her reddish-brown ones, oblivious of her shocked expression. Apart from of absolutely adoring his eyes and already yearning for him, she feared his very existence. Her face turned a pale white and she froze dead on in her tracks. A dark presence emanated from his body, and an image of a demonic-looking person with one black wing protruding from its back flickered through her mind. Her bones were chilled to the core at the sight of the monstrous creature, causing the muscles around her skeleton to shiver in fear. Its piercing, blood-red eyes glared at her intently in the eye, and its sharp fangs longed for something to bite and devour.

Smoldering from prolonged exposure to the creature's gaze, she blinked anxiously with watering eyes, and a small teardrop crept down along the side of the bridge of her nose. She gawked at the creature for too long. As soon as her eyelids lifted back up, the monster, astonishingly, disappeared – the sky-blue eyed young man was there again and took its place. A steady flow of air eased out of Tifa's mouth, a sign of her partially abated anxiety.

"Um…" The utterance departed from young man's tongue, and Tifa's eyes flicked up to his.

She caught his glowing orbs in full view, embracing them with her own gape.

_Gorgeous,_ she smiled in her head. _So gorgeous…_

But then a sudden stop.

Time halted.

Not a muscle within her could move.

No, wait, EVERYTHING became motionless and kept so still, the silence that filled the air could deafen any ear. Everything in Tifa's view blurred, and another revelation had yet to emboss itself before her, in place of the young man. Masked behind the beauty, something dark lured her in. Not all of his charm attracted her; something tied to the darkness was also a part of things. Not a clue entered her mind as to what truly hid behind the profligacy of his glowing eyes, but then her body began to tingle, from head to toe and things didn't seem right anymore.

A spec of black swirled at the very top of the stairs, right behind Yuffie who was far from where Tifa lingered. The spec whirled in a wicked manner and engulfed the area, plastering everything black until things were difficult to distinguish. The blackness even covered up both the young man and the preoccupied Yuffie. Able to take a few timid steps down the stairs, Tifa edged away from the darkness. Drenched in fright, she could only move at a sloth's pace, and the darkness skulking before her seized her left foot. She let out a shallow gasp, but it wasn't heard. Not one sound could reach her ears – not even the sound of her own breathing. At that moment, her body flipped over without any self-control, and she plunged headfirst into the stairs. A ripple slithered outwards from the steps, stretching out to swallow up everything in its wake. The ripple ran over every inch of the area, melting the stairs, the people on it, the walls, the windows – the whole lot.

Everything liquefied, evaporating into the black atmosphere.

An immeasurable amount of bubbles formed from Tifa's descending body as she continued to rapidly sink further down into the darkness like a broken ship. Bubbles. Bubbles? Was she sinking into an abyss filled with ghastly black water? No, not at all. There wasn't any water anywhere, but bubbles still shaped and popped anyway. Tifa watched the small clear spheres float away from her, watching them burst and vanish into nothingness. Observing the bubbles one by one made her feel like she sank for hours. She tried to keep a cool-head, blocking out all signs trepidation and other feelings that caused dismay and allowed herself to continue descending into oblivion, patiently waiting for an outcome. When her patience paid off, her body flipped over again, abruptly but gently and placed her firmly onto her feet.

Curious eyes slowly but thoroughly inspected the base she was standing on, wondering if she was standing in midair. The only thing she found beneath her feet was the bottomless pit of darkness, silently calling her as if eager to consume her.

_Where am I? _Tifa wondered, her thoughts echoing inexplicably throughout the eerie place she was in. She questioned herself if she opened her mouth and allowed her thoughts to slip out, but she doubted it and suspected that the place she was trapped in just played tricks on her. _What happened to everyone?_ She kept pondering. _What happened to me?_

Suddenly, white walls fell down around her, landing on the base she stood on with a loud crash – sound finally began to return. Alongside the walls, a white roof slid over her head and a white floor glided under her feet, in place of the invisible base. The noisy movements of the faces ceased as soon as the roof and floor were intact, and sound faded once more, leaving everything silent again. She looked around frenetically, scanning the white walls that trapped her for an exit. She would've gone for any opening, big or small, but nothing could be found. She cursed under her breath, wishing to leave the morbid panorama, but she couldn't without an exit to use.

_What's happening?_ Her mind wailed anxiously.

Staring at the blinding white color of the roof overhead, she realized something off about her. Her body felt so light so detached from something that she was originally affixed to. If she wished to fly, she could float in midair without the need of wings or any kind of appalling magic. Picturing herself hovering above the floor effortlessly, she then grasped another thought, one far more significant than the other: one part of her could've been trapped in an otherworldly realm while the other was caught in a trance – her mind was caught in a different world while her body stayed put in reality.

She knew that floating in midair was nearly impossible and that the sudden emergence of a building's faces locking together would never happen in real life. There was only one explanation as to how such things could occur:

She was caught in a trance.

A forced fantasy.

A hex masquerading as a flight of imagination.

Wanting to be free from the spell she was under, she rushed to one of the white walls and slammed her hands against them, hoping that someone in reality could hear or that she'd trigger something that could pull her out of the ethereal realm. Her hands bashed against the panels furiously, almost grazing off skin, but again, not a sound was made. Everything fell silent again. Controlled by climbing fear, her legs backed her into a different wall, and her spine thumped against it. Her hands rested on her chest, in a manner that made them look like they were trying to keep her heart from busting through her torso, and jagged breaths absconded from her mouth, quietly but surely. Anxiety overwhelmed the composed attitude she tried to keep, making her slam against her chest faster and faster every waking moment.

"How am I going to get out of this place?" she breathed, "Where's the exit? Where's the way out?"

Sound still stayed inaudible, making the words that came out of her mouth and the actions she took completely useless. She slid her back against the even wall and sat on the floor. Making an effort to calm herself, she searched the walls again. When every inch was covered, she craned her neck to scan the roof and then the floor. Nevertheless, she arrived at nothing, so she searched again. Again. And again. During her fifth inspection, something finally caught her eye.

It was a three-dimensional word that stood in the middle of the space, in midair, doused in a gold hue: "Exit?" A streak of light accentuated each letter as it slithered by. Then they dissolved into nothingness just like the bubbles, prompting the arrival of a sentence: "Who said there was one?" Each word appeared one by one, still keeping their gold tinge, and they dissolved as soon as Tifa read it all.

She stood up and walked to the middle of the room, to where the words were positioned. Her hand reached out to see if more words would surface but they didn't. Instead, to her horror, something tugged at her arms, something invisible, causing a shriek of fright to escape from the recesses of her throat. Whatever had her, it tugged inconstantly, pulling for a second and stopping another second after, repeating the cycle a second later. She closed her eyes, afraid to find out what was in front of her, and she kept her eyes closed until the tugging stopped for a long while. The invisible being managed to drag her to the wall in front of her, leaving a trail of faint indents on the floor.

Apprehensive that something would've jumped at her, she re-opened her eyes steadily. Nothing attacked her, nothing appeared – she calmed down, and she slumped forward, sighing in relief. Her rear fell backwards, and she dropped to the floor.

_Smack!_

Her knuckles whacked at the wall behind her, enraged and disconcerted.

But nothing happened.

No one heard the sound; nothing arrived to help, so the silence continued to stretch, hope slowly waning away.

Though not all was lost.

Materializing behind her, more gold words shined but in a morose style, "I'm sorry."

Suddenly, the husky sound of whispers miraculously filled her ears – nothing more. Whispers were the only things she heard. Her back became erect and she turned herself around to see if anyone had accompanied her. Sadly, she was still alone though she found the additional gold words. The words were whispered into her ears, over and over. At first, she had no idea what the words meant, so she pondered around them for a while, figuring out what the voices were sorry for. But quickly, the whispers escalated into annoyance and then into an eerie disturbance. She covered her ears with her palms, the whispers bouncing off the backs of her hands. The whispers didn't exactly stop, but they developed into mere scratching sounds although the noises remained a creepy nuisance.

"Grab my hand." When she looked in front of her, new words twinkled. "I'm the only chance you've got here."

While taking her hands away from her ears, the walls shattered like glass, and she flipped upside down, diving headfirst into pitch-black nothingness yet again. The sudden scare made her heart smash against her chest, inducing a sharp pain that made her wince a bit. Her eyelids fell in panic, and she agreed to continue descending into naught. The fall felt like centuries – it was a never-ending cycle.

But a sound stopped her – a very soft and gentle voice. "Look here…"

Consoled by the voice, she became willing to open her eyes towards its direction. She turned her head and sought out its owner. The moment her head moved, her body decelerated and landed on its feet again, on another invisible base. Fixing her skirt and jacket, she let her eyes wander. A glint of light caught her consideration. She looked the light's way and spotted something standing a couple of meters from her with their head and torso blanketed in shadows while their legs were revealed in a glow that didn't have a distinguishable source. Despite the lack of frontage, it was obvious that the something was a person – a young man. Tifa tilted her head to the side, and the partially concealed figure extended an arm towards her.

"It'll be fine." The figure soothed her with his alluring, soft voice. "Don't worry."

Hesitantly, she approached the young man with one timorous foot after another.

"Who..." The first foot was shaky. "…are you…?" The second foot was braver.

"Trust me." The man stepped towards Tifa, the light revealing more of him, but his appearance was still hard to discern.

Ever so slowly, she reached for the man's hand with her bandaged one as a test if he really was going to be gentle. She glanced at her bandage which slightly turned a faded crimson color in the middle. A wave of pain came from her wound, and she was forced to take her hand back to alleviate it. The young man heard a tiny groan come from her, and he lowered his hand, concerned of her well-being.

"You okay?" he asked placidly, taking another step towards Tifa.

"…I'm fine," she painfully replied, and she kept walking in his direction.

A hidden grin contoured onto his face, and he lifted his arm back to its initial distance from the floor. Picking up the pace, she reached for his hand, embracing it with a gentle grip, her fingers lightly settling on his knuckles. His smooth skin, cradled her hand tenderly, and just like that, the ache in her palm subsided, and things reverted back to their original states. Like nothing even happened. The young man released his grip on her hand and enclosed his fingers around her wrist, pulling on her arm delicately. Her hand just about cupped his face, and he took in a deep breath through his nose, inhaling a certain scent that permeated the air – a scent that didn't catch one bit of Tifa's attention, a scent that she had no idea about.

She squealed faintly and blushed again, her cheeks turning a solid pink when she felt his lips touch her covered wound.

"Your blood matches hers…" he muttered in a hushed tenor. "You… ARE her…"

Puzzled, she felt her reddened cheeks fade back to their fair color, and she took her hand from the young man's face.

"I'm so sorry…" he muttered again, solemnly though. "Back then… it was my fault you…" Smiling falsely, he shook his head. "Never mind… you're okay… that's all that matters."

Tifa remained confused, her incomprehension apparent on her face as a cute little pout. The young man's words were arcane, hazy and baffling. They made no sense, but they made things sound like the man had something to do with her past. But how could it have been true? Her mind was separated from veracity, and she was left to wander a different world. The matters in the ethereal realm she settled in shouldn't be real – only an illusion that draped before her eyes. The young man chuckled indistinctly, thinking her pout was quite adorable despite being somewhat childlike at the same time. Keeping her delightful expression in his mind, he turned around, his grip still on Tifa's wrist. He pulled on her arm carefully and led her further into the shadows, having her see nothing but darkness once more. The moment her eyes adjusted to the shade, a bright light flashed in front of her, surrounded her and engulfed her every being.

And the both of them were gone, the trance fading into pure white.

* * *

"Uh, sorry, did I bump into you?" The blue-eyed man asked Tifa diffidently.

Her eyes flickered from a dull auburn to a vibrant chocolate, a transition from a startling mirage to absolute verity. She swallowed hard, trying to take in everything that just happened, her eyes broad and alert. Matters were back to normal, and she returned to her suspended reality. The dark abyss she repeatedly fell into, the white panels that surrounded her, the invisible being that tugged at her arm, the ghostly whispers that filled her ears, the floating gold letters that caught her attention, the mysterious yet charming young man that acted as a guide – they were all gone, but their remains still dawdled around her brain just as a catchy tune would. And the young man's last words?

They were engraved into Tifa's mind.

"U-Um…" Repeatedly, she shook her head to clear her mind of meaningless thoughts and the ominous remainders of her trance.

She tried to overcome her shyness around him and hide the furtive hell that she went through.

"I, uh…" she stammered while fixing her clothes. "N-No, I… um…"

She looked into the young man's eyes again, easily distracted by their beauty. Heck, she couldn't help herself – his eyes were like cocaine to her – an addictive grandeur to take pleasure in. She stared into his eyes for what seemed like hours, but it was only for a scanty couple of seconds. Strangely, her mind became clear and at peace when she reveled in the splendor, the remnants of the surreptitious hell she went through vanishing for the mean time, and a brief respite fell down between them.

When her mind cleared and when she could see without dread blinding her, she noticed it wasn't ALL the time a good-looking guy like him came around. He leaned forward an inch, towards the top of the stairs, seeming like he was about to leave. Tifa gasped at the thought of him thinking she was one of those bizarre school girls – always the odd ones out and had no friends. If he really thought that, and she knew, her morning would've been basically ruined; she didn't need an amazing guy like him labeling her as a weirdo on the first day of school. It wouldn't be fair nor was it even right! But then he smiled at her, letting out a shy chuckle. She took it as a sign that everything was all right – the negative thoughts swirling around her head were most likely wrong.

"Cat got your tongue?" The young man smirked through his words but made it so there was a hint of sincerity in him.

Tifa's cheeks reddened, and she scratched the back of her head nonchalantly, striving to change the subject. "Uh, a-anyways, about the whole did-I-push-you-thing… I think I bumped into you – I'm sorry…?"

_ Ohh, boy, _her mind sighed as her cheeks grew even redder. _What have I gotten myself into?_

The young man's smile stretched, and he chuckled again, flashing his white teeth, "I'll… see you around."

Tifa pressed the joint of her index finger against her lips and tried to place the words drifting around in her head in the right order, so they'd come out of her mouth as proper sentences. But her words weren't arranged in time and the young man began trudging up the stairs, away from her. His sudden movements disrupted her train of thought. Coveting to know his name, her hand dropped from her face and reached out for him slightly, but once she batted her eyes, he was… _gone_.

Gone?

Yes.

Gone.

In a single blink of an eye.

It was as if he never came in contact with Tifa.

He left without a trace for her to follow. All he left her with to remember him by was a memory of his perfect face. She let her hand slump lazily to her side, feeling disappointed and somewhat rejected. "What just happened?" was the only thought that hung around in her head at the moment. Other than that, everything was blank. The young man disappeared in an instant. Right when she blinked, he was gone. His speed may have been incredible, but he had Tifa thinking if he was just an illusion because of her hunger or if he was the real thing. Him, the monster that flashed before her eyes, the trance – she thought it was all just an illusion portrayed from her malnourishment. But even if he was real, there was something very obvious about him:

He was a perturbing being.

"Tifa?" She heard Yuffie's voice call out to her. She looked farther up the stairs and saw the cheery girl plodding down towards her, looking calm and collected. Yuffie slid her hand down the rail with her school bag dangling in her other hand. Then she spoke again, "Hey, how'd you manage to stay down here? I thought you left me because of the food."

"Um, well, I was talking to this one guy… but…"

"…Guy?" She took her hand off of the railing and placed it on her hip.

Tifa scratched her head again. "Yeah. But I don't know where he went. It was like he… just disappeared out of… _thin air_."

"Oh, _c'mon_, Tifa, quit talking nonsense."

"'Nonsense?' But I'm not…!"

Yuffie rolled her eyes, scoffing at Tifa's so-called nonsense. "What're you talking about? There was no GUY."

"I-!" Unfortunately, Tifa couldn't back up herself up. At the moment, she could only plead with her expression for comprehension. She had no proof to show, none that could help Yuffie understand her. She had no proof whatsoever actually. Well…

…not yet at least.

* * *

Yuffie and Tifa sped down the long flight of stairs, watching their every move to make sure they wouldn't make a clumsy move and trip and tumble down. The flight of stairs began a haughty forty-feet from the ground which meant a haughty forty-foot fall TO the ground if either one of them tripped. The pain would've been excruciating since the edges of each stair step were like dull blades. Their feet stomped against the beyond-sturdy wood, at times stomping in unison, creating a clank that was twice as loud than usual. Each of those combined stomps worried them both, for the sound forced them to think one of them lost their footing. Nevertheless, none of them did and they made it to the cafeteria, safe and sound, enjoying the delectable aroma of the place which was even stronger than the one they picked up near the top of the stairs.

The cafeteria – a place for everyone to be able to eat and enjoy the food they craved – was filled with bustling people, mostly containing the students of Gaia Academy. They were scattered about on the floors, couches and tables, all of them savoring the food they ate. Several teachers surrounded the area, silently watching over everyone in the cafeteria to make sure no one would cause a drastic commotion. But that didn't stop the teachers from relishing their meals themselves.

The interior of the area consisted mainly of hungry people, miscellaneous furniture, piping hot food of many sorts and a wide variety of drinks. The exterior, though, wasn't so accommodated. The walls were painted white with strips of brown running along the white, starting from the base of the wall, up. The brown strips were actually strips of thin marble, and the rest was actually a sleek layer of a bullet-proof surface painted white. The bullet proof surface served as defense in the event of a lockdown or a serious invasion. Apart from all that, the floors were made of plain old ceramic tiles cloaked in a hazelnut brown dye. There was nothing special about it at all besides being mopped and polished everyday – besides being amazingly clean most of the time. The walls weren't adorned with much, just a few pictures of the Planet's scenery, courtesy of ShinRa's employees. Each prominent picture was colorful and vibrant, each hue accentuating another. Each picture was gorgeous – a true work of art, but most of the students that caught even the slightest glimpse of them could care less. The teachers and other adults would've given the images praise, but very few of the students would do the same. The pictures the students mainly gave their attention to were of the school's sports teams and clubs – football, volleyball, soccer, basketball, wrestling, track and field, the dance teams… everything other than scenery.

Bolted near the ceiling of the cafeteria were digital clocks and speakers to match. Not all of the speakers functioned though – only four out of five. Transmitting from four intercoms, a female voice explained the basics of the school. Their voice spread about the area in monotone, "Good morning, Gaia Academy. Today is Monday, September 15, and right now, it is a chilly forty-seven degrees outside. Throughout the day, heavy snowfall is to be expected. The time of which the snowfall will occur has not yet been confirmed, but ShinRa scientists are still running tests. Speaking of ShinRa, they apologize for bringing about such horrible weather, and donations are being accepted as of now by ShinRa to help their research on the manipulated weather."

"Donations?" Yuffie grumbled as she and Tifa scanned the cafeteria. "Who would wanna donate money to ShinRa? The company's just gonna spend the stuff on meaningless crap, not their research."

Tifa looked at her agitated friend with an upset expression. "You… really hate ShinRa, don't you?"

"You kiddin' me? I'm from Wutai! EVERYONE in Wutai hates ShinRa. They took away the peace from my homeland, and they're sucking the Planet dry of its life… a whole bunch of vampires. Blowhards. Saps! Uh, nuff' said."

_Wow. For once, the cheery girl beside me isn't exactly cheery anymore. _Tifa contemplated while rubbing her injured palm. It throbbed whenever her fingertips ran over it lightly, pulsating pain that made her flinch every time it got to her. _Despite the fact that ShinRa's a rich company, she has a point. ShinRa is slowly taking the Planet's life by helping ours. It's sad and cruel even if it's making our lives much more befitting._

"…We've relied on them our whole lives…" Tifa thought out loud.

Hearing Tifa's remark, Yuffie stated harshly, "Yeah, YOU guys. Nope, not me. The people of Wutai don't rely on ShinRa. We get by on our own. That's how tough we are! We don't need ShinRa in our lives nor do we ever."

Tifa's lips stiffened, and her eyes dropped aside for a moment. "Wait, hold on a second. If that's the case, then how come you're at this school?"

Yuffie held her breath again, not knowing what to say. A few things moseyed around in her head but nothing applicable to the subject. Struggling to come up with a good explanation, let alone something good to say, she simply tried to change the matter, "…It's complicated. Don't get all worked up about it, all right?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Tifa carped, "If it's complicated, you make it un-complicated by telling me."

"But I don't wanna talk about it," Yuffie pouted with furrowed brows – an infantile face.

Tifa rolled her eyes and sat down on the stair step behind them. "I'm not surprised. But it's your call so suit yourself."

Falling back on her hind end, onto the same stair Tifa rested against, she bleated while her limbs hugged her rumbling stomach, "Ahh, I'm starving! And I think my stomach's growling at ME. Why are we still here? Shouldn't we be getting breakfast right about now?"

Ignoring Yuffie, Tifa continued to listen to the announcements even if she hated the orator's voice. "Today's schedule is period one through six. Returning students, if you have any classes with Ms. Rui, she's now in room 307C instead of 214A. Again, Ms. Rui has relocated to room 307C. As for today's meals go, for breakfast, please enjoy a heart-healthy helping of pancakes and or waffles, accompanied by fresh fruit. For lunch, the cafeteria will be serving chicken soup with fresh baked biscuits and hot gravy as well as your choice of fruit and or vegetables – a meal perfect for the cold weather. For dinner, pizza will be served – pepperoni, cheese and supreme. If you do not want to eat such food, you are free to make a sandwich from the deli or go out of the school and buy your own food. Should you resort to buying your own food, you must be back before curfew – ten-thirty p.m."

"Ten-thirty?" Yuffie yelped out of frustration, and she stamped her foot. "That's too early!"

Apparently, she too paid attention to the robotic voice, also disgusted by the tone.

Tifa couldn't help but let out a small titter. She had a feeling Yuffie was joking, based on the smile that kept trying to emerge onto her face as she continued to gripe. But she looked quite serious otherwise. Her face remained deadpan whenever her smile didn't try to show, but when it did Yuffie turned her head away, not wanting to ruin the mood and to get straight to the point. Grinning diminutively at Yuffie's childlike actions, Tifa eyed the speaker on the opposite side of the cafeteria and kept her ears open.

The tedious orator cleared her throat and continued. "Last on the agenda, after school sports such as football, volleyball, soccer and dance team will begin practice at three o'clock today to six-fifteen p.m. Have a tremendous day, Gaia Academy!"

"She has such a beautiful voice, doesn't she?" someone sneered, emphasizing the sarcasm she placed in the word "beautiful."

Tifa and Yuffie looked to their right, the direction of the sarcastic voice. They were relieved – no, thrilled to hear a more lively voice speak to them. The monotonous voice that traveled into their ears numbed their brains and almost weighed down at their eyelids, making them dozy with every word it sounded out. The voice was gone though, and they were propped right back up from what was almost a mindless daze. Yuffie leaned forward to take a good look of the person who adhered to them, her heels rising off the ground as weight shifted into her toes. To her surprise, a random person walked past, and she almost cut them off with her head. She tilted backwards instead, transferring the pressure from her toes into her heels, expecting not to bump into anyone – the stairs were practically lonely. No one dragged themselves down them.

"Honestly, no one here likes her voice. Not even the teachers. She sounds like a total robot. Don't you agree?" A girl stood beside them with her arms folded over her chest. She had bright brown hair with a shade of orange mixed in and dim gold eyes. "She only shows emotion at the very end of each announcement – when she tells everyone to 'have a great day.' Kinda ridiculous if you ask me."

The two erupted in laughter with the girl as they tried to retain their conversation clandestine. They had no clue who the orator was exactly, so keeping their conversation private was a good idea, considering the fact that she had the right to snitch on them even if it wasn't specifically the right thing to do.

"Don't tell her I said that, all right?" The girl jeered as she pulled her grade cloth up back where it was supposed to be. Her cloth was red which meant she was a freshman, but the rest of her uniform was different than everyone else's – the female students in particular. The jacket she wore was a very dark gray, and the gold lines that were supposed to run along the edges and near the sides of the jacket were white. Her bow was black, but her undershirt was still white. The skirt around her waist was black as well, and it wasn't emblazoned with plaid unlike the rest of the female students.

Tifa found the girl's uniform rather strange. She was literally the black sheep among everyone. The girl was the first person she saw at Gaia Academy wearing a black version of the school's uniform. _She must be a prefect then,_ Tifa stated though nothing about the girl's uniform ran through Yuffie's brain. She wasn't concerned about the altered uniform at all.

The girl gave a gentle smile and set her gloved hand in front of Tifa, "I'm Cissnei."

Tifa looked down at the reaching hand. It wore a fingerless glove just as the other hand did although the gloves weren't just for show. They hid scars and cuts, ones that settled on her palms and the sides of her hands. Several scars were visible on her fingers, some old and some new. One of them was in the process of healing, so it remained a fresh cut that had yet to fade into a scar. It was a small slit on one of the joints of her index finger but appeared quite red, and a spec of blood sat on the corner of the wound.

Giving a gentle smile back to the girl, she replied, "I'm Tifa-"

But she choked.

Red – a flash of red covered her eyes.

She snapped her hand back, fingers brushing against Cissnei's palm. Her hand rested on her forehead, near the bridge of her nose. A pulsing sensation bounced against the tip of her index.

_I'm so sorry,_ something whispered inside her head, and her eyes narrowed. _It's my fault you…_

Gory images of the tortured, young man filled her mind again, his blood splashing onto the ground, body shaking from intolerable ache. His face was plagued with anguish, preserving the same disheartened and distressed look he had in her nightmare. Then the impassive girl – the cruel executioner – stepped forth behind the man. She pulled her rage-filled sword back, the moon glinting malevolently off the blade. Its recesses were flooded with hate and pined for a target to smite. Her arm drew back as far as it could reach, and swiftly, she drove her sword into the man's back with latent fury. The blade tore through his insides, shredding organs and muscles apart, drilling past his skin, right through his chest. He screamed at the top of his lungs in torment, finally reaching the climax of his torture. His wail hung in the air, echoing endlessly through Tifa's ears-

"Um, is something wrong?" Cissnei's warm voice snapped Tifa out of her perturbing daze.

Tifa didn't hear a word she said, but whatever came out of her mouth snatched the terrifying images away from her eyes.

A relief.

"Huh? What?" Her hand dropped to her chest, feeling her heart pound against her hand. "I-I'm sorry, but what did you-?"

"Are you feeling well?" Cissnei interrupted but got directly to the point. Her hand lowered and stayed put at her side. Only by looking at Tifa, she knew something ate at her. So why did she even bother asking? "If you're sick, maybe you should go to the infirmary." She just wanted to act casual. "I'll take you there if you want." And gentle.

"No, no, I'm fine." Tifa lied almost hushed.

But Cissnei heard every word. "Are you sure?"

Tifa faltered for a moment, silently corroding.

Sitting wordlessly beside Tifa, Yuffie sat silently, fiddling with the headband around her neck, jittery for a reason unknown even to her. She was worried about Tifa, so she assumed that was the case, but something else gnawed at her relentlessly. Only a fourth of her attention was paid to Tifa, but the rest was for something else. Yuffie covertly lashed her eyes in every direction, meaning to scan every inch of the cafeteria. Her gaze skipped past the speakers, digital clocks and other insignificant things. Instead, her eyes ran over every piece of furniture, every ceramic tile on the floor – everything, inspecting the people that inhabited the pieces with a critical sense. The people she saw standing impatiently in line, on the couches, the floor, the tables and whatnot were of different colors – fair, tan and dark-skinned. They weren't a surprise, but when incredibly pale people captured her attention – emphasis on "incredibly" – she lost her breath again.

_Just as I thought,_ her mind grumbled, and her hands scrunched into fists. _These people… they're…!_

_

* * *

_

The blond-headed young man settled at the top of one of the stairs cases, staring out the window in front of him, arms resting on the window sill like innocent plants. Sky-blue eyes traveled aimlessly across the smog that blanketed Midgar, analyzing every shade of gray from darkest to lightest. He was frustrated and on edge, fingers tapping against the window sill in rhythm with his rapid heartbeat, blonde brows furrowed slightly. By staring at the smog, he thought his mind could go blank – he wanted to forget.

Forget ever meeting Tifa.

"…Damn…!" He growled through clenched teeth and heatedly slammed a fist into the sill, head dipped low as if atoning for a terrible mistake. His glowing eyes shut tight at the thought of meeting up with Tifa a second time, ashamed for what he made her go through, but suddenly, they shot back up, wide and alert, blue tinge sparking brighter.

Quiet footsteps sounded alongside the small creaks that escaped from the staircase, and the blond whipped his head over his shoulder, eyeing whoever approached him with a somewhat irritated expression.

A black haired student gaited down the stairs, muscles relaxed and emotions unruffled. "I saw you two walk past each other." The both of them had the same pair of lustrous blue eyes only the blonde's seemed to glow much brighter. "You guys even talked to each other. But WHY didn't you tell her about her nightmares let alone your own name? Cloud, you had the chance, so why didn't you take it? What's wrong with you, man?"

"I…" Cloud's eyes lowered to the hard-wood floor. "…Sorry, Zack."

"Sorry?" The black haired young man sat on the last stair.

"I… I lost myself again."

Zack stayed tacit, confused and at a loss for words. Silence stretched between them, but they were used to it. Cloud wasn't much of a talker anyways unlike Zack. Zack usually had the guts to speak to everyone that proved to be friendly, but Cloud was the opposite – generally, he was quiet and very shy. Several of the female students of the school actually considered his hushed character quite adorable, excluding his looks. Though when the females added his looks to his hushed character, they'd all sigh in ecstasy, almost dizzy, cheeks flushed and eyes dazed. Some considered him to be even more attractive than Zack which was typically a shocker as almost every student that is familiar with him knows that he's supposed to be "the ladies' man of the school." And possibly of Sector Eight.

Zack leaned back, dropping his elbows on the step behind him. "Wait, what do you mean you lost yourself?"

"…My powers…"

"Your pow- oh. That. Now, that's a problem."

Cloud dipped his head lower, covering his face. Muffled, he groaned into his hands, "I'm so stupid! Why can't I… CONTAIN myself? Especially in front of HER? Her hand had a wound, and it was still fresh. Blood was stained on the bandage that covered the wound, and I caught its scent. And then…" He took a short breath, his heart beating quicker and harder against his chest. "And then I… she looked into my eyes and… I put her in a trance."

"A… trance, huh?" Zack let out a small chuckle. "Cloud, that doesn't really sound like you lost control of your powers. It actually sounds kinda romantic! Ahah! Looks like someone has a quite a crush on you! Ahahaha!"

"Zack, I LITERALLY put her in a trance."

"Ahahahaha- uh-uhh… huh? Wait, you're serious?"

The look in Cloud's eyes answered for him.

"…O-Oh…"

"…She looked into my eyes and-and I almost ended up locking away another one of her memories."

"Ugh. Boy, oh, boy. Hojo's experiments REALLY jacked you up, huh?"

"…I wonder."

"Well, tell you what." He stood up and jumped off the last step, his shoes clunking against the wooden floor. Repeatedly, his knees bent, legs skewing into a ninety degree angle – one squat. Two squats. "Why don't you go talk to Angeal?" Three squats. "I mean, he's always helped me." Four squats. "I'm pretty sure…" Five squats. "…he can help you too…" Six squats. Seven squats. "…so long as you…" Eight squats. "…don't mind hour-long lectures." Nine squats. Ten squats. Done.

"But Zack, he… he's not like me." Cloud's eyes traveled to the floor. "He's not as hungry for blood as me; he's not 'jacked up' like me; he didn't have the Turks make him undergo a change in appearance using Time materia; he's not Nibelheim's scapegoat… he… he's not weak…"

After taking a couple of languid steps, Zack's face scrunched, and he placed a hand on Cloud's shoulder. "Cloud…?"

"He's NOT like me." Cloud's voice went hoarse.

* * *

"…And I really recommend this cute little stand here." Cissnei pointed at a stand with a sign that said "The Café-ccino."

"Is that so…?" Yuffie placed a thumb on her chin, wrapping her brain around whether or not she should go taste the foor the stand had to offer. The sweet smell of caramel and a mixture of pastries, along with the tart scent of coffee pervaded Yuffie's nose, captured her interest and further antagonizing her rioting belly.

Going along with Tifa's act of being perfectly fine, Cissnei began showing Tifa and Yuffie around the cafeteria, hopefully being able to take them around the school before breakfast was over. She never met Tifa and Yuffie before, so she figured the two of them were new which they were. Showing them around was the least she could do to help them get accustomed to the new school.

The least.

_ "The Café-ccino?"_ Tifa thought, brows arching, eyes running over the stand's sign which was nailed to two wooden posts attached to the stand itself. _Out of all the names in the world, why did they have to choose this one? "The Café-ccino" is… it's ridiculous – corny._

Yuffie watched a disgusted look form on Tifa's face, thinking she was already displeased with breakfast. Yuffie took a large step in front of her, practically cutting her in the line positioned before the stand's register. She then reached into her bag and pulled out her wallet. From it, a hundred gil was revealed. Tifa did the same, reaching into her bag for money, but unfortunately, she could only take out thirty gil.

She cursed under her breath, disappointed about her lack of money. A latte sounded splendid at the moment, but she didn't have the money to get herself one. A mild suspicion of the young man that greeted her at the stairs entered her thoughts – she thought he slyly took some of her money, pick-pocketing her while she fell under a trance. But that was high unlikely. His face looked very innocent and sincere, but then again, there was also the vision of the hungry, one-winged monster… it flashed in place of the young man, through Tifa's eyes – could that have been merely a ruse to spur her trance into action? Could he have been some master magician that conjured up the ability to hypnotize others, so he could rob them blind?

No.

He wasn't.

_He's something else,_ Tifa told herself. _He's… hiding something._ She eased her gil back into her wallet. _Boy, oh, boy._

The start of the new school year at a new school slowly rotted in Tifa's point of view.

Tentatively, she tapped Yuffie on the shoulder, urging her to turn around. The Wutai girl spun around on her heel to face her. "Yeah?"

"Um," Tifa hesitated for a second, "do you mind if you could… buy _my_ coffee too? Please?"

"U-Uh…" She was sure a no was coming.

"I only have thirty gil, and it's not enough for a latte. But hey, I promise I'll pay you back as soon as I get the rest of the money…!"

"Well…" An impish smirk outlined itself on Yuffie's face. "…Since you'll repay me, I guess I could buy you your coffee." She began shuffling through her wallet again, reaching for more gil. The sight of additional gil made Tifa suspect that she really was a thief the people from Wutai are considered to be. There was no proof to back up her theory though, so the additional gil seemed normal. Was all of the money simply an allowance? Probably.

"…Thanks." She thought the extra gil really was allowance money, and guilt reigned over her, weighing down on her shoulders. It made her feel spiteful, having her own friend spend more of her allowance money than she wanted. And there was also the fact that she was buying things that weren't for her, things that she wasn't planning on giving as a gift. The guilt and spitefulness made Tifa feel las if she was treating Yuffie like a dog. "Oh, go get this! Oh, go get that!" she could say. Then, to make things sound sincere, she could end each demanding sentence with a "please."

_If I don't have the money, then what's the point of buying?_ The thought scratched at her head in repentance. _It's… not right to have someone else buy whatever for me. It's not right. I was raised better than that – I know better!_

True, she recognized her mistake, but even then, she didn't feel good at all.

Greedy.

Spiteful.

Guilty.

_Bitchy._

The mixed emotions twisted her gut into a knot. Brushing stray hairs from her face, she pursed her lips, one hand busy with her hair while the other reached out to tap Yuffie on the shoulder again. Yuffie's ears perked up, and she looked over almost automatically. "Yeah?"

"Never mind." Tifa smiled a fake smile, the corners of her mouth quivering lightly from her efforts in maintaining its spurious act.

"Whaddaya mean by that?"

"Just forget it." She stepped out of line, tucked her wallet back into her bag and continued, "I'll just get myself juice."

Yuffie tilted her head to the side, silently repeating her question: "whaddaya mean?" In response, Tifa shrugged her shoulders, silently telling her to forget about anything that was said about coffee. Thinking the message was received, she turned her back and let out a deep sigh, letting her eyes wander around the cafeteria, examining each and every detail of the place. Just like Yuffie, the pale people piqued her attention, driving her curiosity up a wall. It was only MILDLY disturbing – she thought the weather had taken a toll on the pale people, literally sickening them. Didn't seem like much of a serious deal. Heck, they seemed perfectly fine despite their paleness.

Then again, they could've just been hiding what they truly felt.

Nausea? Chest pain? Headaches? Stuffiness? It all could've been shrouded. To shield others from grief. To shelter them from emotional and physical suffering. In a way, it was relief.

Assuming there was nothing out of the ordinary with the pale people, she walked over to the cafeteria window, a casement containing several cafeteria workers who guarded the food they spread before themselves, in a manner that made things seem so organized. People walked past the window, shoes clicking against the tile floor, snatching a plate of food, heading over to a vacant place to eat. Tifa did the same – she glided over to the window and quickly examined the spread, eyes scuttling past every plate; she wanted to be quick, so a long line of hungry people wouldn't form behind her, and she didn't want to seem ridiculously picky, spending two to three minutes – maybe even more – deciding what to eat for breakfast and breakfast alone. Hands grabbed a full plate of bacon and scrambled eggs and quickly snatched a bottle of juice from a blue plastic crate that settled on the floor. Fingers wrapped around a black plastic fork and feet made haste for Yuffie back at "The Café-ccino."

"One caramel macchiato please," Yuffie inquired as she placed her hundred gil on the counter.

"One caramel macchiato coming up!" said the man behind the register in a very enthusiastic tone.

He got her macchiato instantaneously and with a smile – a coffee cup with the stand's logo printed on it appeared in his hand, and he placed it gently onto the counter. He grabbed a pitcher and poured the espresso and milk mixture into the coffee cup and drizzled caramel froth at the top, making an intricate zig-zag pattern. He sealed the coffee cup with a clear, dome-shaped lid and stuck a straw inside, not tarnishing its exquisiteness one bit. The coffee seemed like high quality – it, in a way, looked professional and its aroma smelled so delectable! Those without a latte in their hands and captured its scent almost felt sorry and regretted not buying.

"All righty then!" the clerk chirped, typing in a couple of numbers. "Your caramel macchiato's exactly fifty gil, and you got a hundred, soooo…" he pressed one last button, and the register slid open, revealing a large stash of money. He placed the hundred gill inside and took out fifty. He held out his hand, holding the change and replied, "Fifty gil is your change. Have a nice day!"

"Um, yeah! You too!" Yuffie could never amount to how mirthful the coffee clerk was. The clerk's merriment made her uncomfortable – a hint of her uneasiness hid in her fake grin.

She caught sight of Tifa and rushed over, being careful not to spill her coffee. "Tifa!" she said, "I'll be back – I'm gonna get myself some pancakes!"

"Um… okay?" was all Tifa could say to her at the time.

She looked around to see if there was any place to sit but then a sudden insight – she realized that Cissnei was gone, completely out of sight. Eyes lurked around the cafeteria, searching for a bright-brown-headed person and scarred fingers but to no avail. It was so sudden. Brushing off the uncanny disappearance, though some of it still remained, she continued to look for a place to settle. The tables were heavily occupied, so they were a no go as well as stray chairs. The thought of sitting on the floor didn't even enter her mind – it was completely out of the question. Luckily, an empty couch stood before her, and she hurried over, not wanting anyone to take her spot. Managing to rush over, she cautiously rested her plate on the coffee table and planted herself in the couch, tossing her bag on the other side of it to save Yuffie a spot. If she didn't save her one, she'd probably snap at her for it.

She took her plate back and placed it on her lap, stabbing the scrambled eggs with her fork. But right when she realized what she was doing to the innocent cooked eggs, terrible visions infiltrated her mind yet again.

Last night's nightmare came back to her.

All of her movements halted as the nightmare began to run again: Red, red, red. Red like molted hatred. Red like the deathly instincts of a beast. The girl's sword slashed, stabbed and tore nonstop, and blood stained everything. Tifa winced at the start of the replay and felt her hand clutch her uniform at the chest. She could feel her heart beat then too – it thrashed against her chest forcefully, and she couldn't breathe! She found herself practically staring the coffee table down, and her other hand gripped its fork to the point where it almost broke in two.

_ No… no, no, please! _She screamed to herself, _please, stop!_

The tortured man's knees buckled and he fell to the ground.

_Please, PLEASE!_

Then he

_Stop!_

Throaty gasps fled from his gape.

_I said stop!_

The words "I love" fled as well…

_Stop!_

…But they didn't make a complete sentence.

_STOP!_

"Hey, are you all right?" A sudden voice.

And the nightmare faded.

Her head lashed up at the person lingering beside her.

"Uh, hey, you okay?"

The young man speaking to her was someone who she could compare and contrast to the young man back at the stairs, the man she liked to privately call "Mr. Cold-Skin." This new guy – he had the same pair of glowing blue eyes as Mr. Cold-skin, but he seemed much taller in height and more masculine. _He's probably one of the jocks,_ she thought,_ a football player or… maybe a wrestler_… _his physique has to have SOME link to a contact sport. Or maybe he's just a weightlifter. And Cold-skin's more of the basketball type. And perhaps baseball…_

Eyes secretly traveled up the young man's raven black hair which was slightly spiked. Mr. Cold-skin had spiked hair as well, but his was blond in color and actually looked similar to the head of a chocobo. Tifa giggled at the thought though she had to turn her head away so the man beside her wouldn't think she was laughing at him. Her giggle lasted for two seconds, and she looked at the young man again, into his glowing orbs.

"What, is there something funny about me?" the man smiled nervously, rubbing his neck. He heard Tifa's giggle perfectly.

His smile was an opened-mouth smile, teeth revealed. His teeth were white and glossy as were Mr. Cold-skin's. There was no need for braces, spacers or any other dental appliances. There were no gaps or any teeth overlapping. No underbites or overbites – his teeth were perfect. Perfect, perfect, perfect.

But then she saw his canine teeth.

_What's this?_ She pondered.

His canines were a bit skinnier than everyone else's – like tiny daggers. They were pointed and somewhat curved. Sharp and somewhat scary-looking. Ominous and peculiar.

It was as if he had fangs hidden in his mouth.

* * *

**A/N: Ickk. I think I rushed the ending. But oh well. Please review(: I'd like to hear from all of you out there((:**


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